>> hello, and welcome. coming up, it is the france "debate." and not your old school show trial. a disgraced communist party cross-examining witnesses himself on opening day of his corruption trial. did the authorities take a gamble by taking on what had been a very popular governor? and just to show you, we are going to air our exclusive

report from that fast-growing metropolis. the trial of the century, coming up in the "debate." we will also be checking later with james creighton, who will show us how this is playing out over social media. we are in the newsroom. hello again to chris moore. >> hosni mubarak out of jail, the former egyptian president is in a hospital in southern cairo. he called it the likely use of chemical use in syria. a say that force may be needed. the government denies claims they used poison gas in the suburbs. and in china, a disgraced politician with a stern confession in a case that has embarrassed the communist party. we start in egypt, where hosni mubarak is under house arrest in cairo in a military hospital.

he was taken from the capital after a court ordered his release following the appeal in the corruption case. he still faces a retrial over complicity in the deaths of the protesters during the 2011 uprising that toppled him. >> a smattering of applause outside of the prison as hosni mubarak was taken out of the building in a helicopter. supporters of the ousted president watch the operation with flags and signs saying congratulations, mr. president. for them, this could mark the return to the pre-revolutionary order in egypt. >> i came to congratulate our president, hosni mubarak. i wish him all the best. without him, we are nothing. since he left, our country has been lost. we cannot work anymore. our country is going downhill. >>mubarak will stay under house arrest until his trial is over. he has been tainted over two

years, longer than the legal limit. he is being charged with the ff protesters and the 2011 demonstrations that eventually saw him overthrown. with tensions running high in egypt, many have questioned the move to release mubarak at this sensitive time. >> in my opinion, we have gone back three years. it is as if the revolution of 2011 has never happened. >> since 2011, hosni mubarak appeared in court on a stretcher claiming serious health problems. upon leaving prison, he was taken directly to a military hospital in the south of cairo where he was admitted thursday. >> more reaction to the alleged use of poisonous gas by syrian forces. the french president has to announced what he called the likely use of chemical weapons. this is the foreign minister. he said the use of force may be required in syria. >> now what we have to do very

quickly as the alleged massacre has just taken place is to let the inspectors get to the site. if the syrians do not want that, at least they have been caught red-handed. if it is confirmed, the position is there must be a reaction. what does that mean, not putting boots on the ground, but around a condemnation from the international community. and the reaction that could involve force. >> syria's opposition claims the government used the chemical attacks. they are denying that, with one high-ranking security force saying the use of such weapons against rebels would be political suicide with the u.n. inspection team so close by. bank the moon has demanded access to the site. they say video showed victims with symptoms consistent with a poisonous gas attack. some have urged caution. >> these are the shocking images

that have caused international roar. this footage released by syrian activists claims to show the casualties of a gas attack. they're accused of using chemical weapons on its own people, something the syran government as the severus lee denied. the images have been studied by forensics experts who say this gives serious cause for concern. >> my first impressions are there are a large number of people demonstrating the shaking of limbs, dilation of pupils in some cases, which would be consistent with some kind of trauma to the nervous system. >> he said these symptoms were not consistent amongst everyone in the videos. he cautioned it was too early to come to any definitive conclusions from the footage alone. >> there are within some of the videos some things that seem hyper-real, almost as if they

have been set up. >> other experts question the authenticity of the footage, asking why doctors are treating victims without protective clothing or breathing apparatus. the attacks coincide with a visit of the 20-member strong chemical weapons team investigating three sites of alleged chemical weapons abuse over the past year. the timing of the alleged incident during the u.n. inspectors visit raises questions as to why the regime would use chemical agents at this time. however, the scale of the attack, conventional or chemical, points to a serious humanitarian crime when a predominantly civilian community, something experts agree warrants further investigation. >> israel says that several rockets have been fired across the border with southern lebanon. >> from the lebanese army, we know they found evidence of four

rockets fired. they were short range rockets. one of them did not make it into israel. it landed inside lebanese territory. the three that reached israel, two landed, one was intercepted by the israeli interception system. two landed it in. cause much -- two of them landed and did not cause much damage. they went down into bomb shelters, experiences they have not had for some time. >> what about who could be responsible? >> that is a good question. there has been no claim of responsibility from hezbollah. hezbollah does not use this type of rocket. what the lebanese have been reporting is a came from a source near the town of tire, a village to the south, and there is a nearby refugee camp. perhaps it is an isolated group coming from there.

the israeli military has said they are at the moment regarding it as an isolated incident and does not hope that it escalates and that is simply a little- known group acting on its own. >> in china, disgraced politician has been using a spirited defense during his charges of financial impropriety related to fraud and the murder of a businessman. we have more on the case which last year plunge the chinese communist party. >> a massive police residence of side of the court as the star defendant arrives in a case that has with the chinese public and observers worldwide. the charismatic electrician who was once on the fast track to the top. he is defending himself against charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power and is expected to be found guilty after the two-day trial. he said he had no objections to

the evidence presented, but denied one of the charges he accepted bribes from businessmen when he was based in a town. the abuse of power is about the cover-up of a british businessman. his wife was convicted of the crime last year. the trial marks the culmination of china's biggest political scandal since the fall of the gang of four at the end of the cultural revolution. the scandal has pitted supporters of social programs against the capitalist leaning economic posts taking by the beijing leadership. it has also energized citizens fed up with the growing gap between rich and poor and politician corruption. >> i don't support bush eli is a person, but i support the policies he adopted. he won a prosperity for everyone and that is what they are calling for. why should they put him in jail? >> what we are more concerned about is after the case is over what direction china goes in.

will we have human rights. and when can we have human rights? >> the case has exposed deep divisions within the ruling chinese communist party and chinese society. >> in zimbabwe, robert godby has been sworn in for another five- year term. thousands turned out to hail him. one man not in attendance was the opposition leader who insist july 31 the presidential election was marked by widespread irregularities. trade5rrs in france have been storming the bastille with fruit and vegetables. it is proving popular in a year which has seen prices surge. >> lining up with a reason. every year during a few hours, these farmers from southeast

france so more than 17 tons of fruits and vegetables to parisians at a price the final competition. >> these fruits are so fresh. >> it is once a year, but i, every time. >> it is important to help farmers and the prices are worth it, too. >> it should happen more often. supermarkets have been stealing from us for quite a while. it is time we do something about it. >> all for sale at this makeshift marketplace. farmers, not grocers, sell the produce directly to customers. the idea comes from a farmers union. the aim, they say, is to highlight supermarkets huge margins. >> when you're in a supermarket and you see the prices, it includes the former earning, the packaging, and the supermarkets margin. when it is sold more than a euro 50, they are stealing from you. >> large french retailer say

their margin never exceeds 0.6%, and information was confirmed by the french ministry of commerce. today at least these early bird shoppers will have the satisfaction of having bought fruit and vegetables at the very best price. >> that is it from the newsroom. time to go to francois picard. >> thank stu chris moore and the newsroom. it has been called china's most high-profile political trial since the end of mao's cultural revolution. bo xi lai denying one of the corruption charges against him, cross-examining witnesses in the proceedings covered on state social media. the former governor of the rising metropolis was arrested last year ahead of the once in a decade changing of the guard of china's top leadership. amid the new leaders repeated pledges to tackle corruption and general wariness over the rising gap between china's haves and

have-nots, the bo xliai trials are seen as a way to send a message. for many residents, it is simply the purge of a popular politician whose neo-maoist rhetoric rubs beijing's pro market leaders the wrong way. to understand, we will go there in a moment. today, we are looking at the trial of the century. with us from washington is a blogger. thank you for being with us. also, i want to thank the author of "100 questions about china in 2013." and also back from six and a half years reporting in china, how are you. >> fine, thanks. >> join the conversation on facebook and twitter at #

f24debate. before we get to the panel, a story from reporters, the investigative newsmagazine prepared by george zimmerman. >> a city of unbridled ambition. this building is in the financial district. it will become the wall street of western china. it will be a huge project. this is chongqing, the mega-city of western china. it is here one of the largest property companies in the city is building a new financial harbour to equal its hope. the big financial institutions, the biggest international financial institutions, and the major banks will come here. >> 32 million people live in zhongshan, the world's largest city, and it is developing at breakneck pace. local gdp growth stands at 15%,

much more than the national average, and the standard of living is increasing at the same rate. this 30-year-old is a typical chongqing success story, making his money in the financial sector, developing a liking for luxury cars over the past five years. >> there is an additional amount to get one. >> he may be a big fan of sports cars, but above all he is extremely careful about his privacy. instead of an office, he spends most of his time in a five-star hotel meeting with fellow professionals like the public relations officer of a sports club of which he is a member. >> some from beijing, others from chongqing. >> he runs his business from the hotel. a former employee of an

investment fund, he is now his own boss. >> chongqing is a city where you can make dreams come true. i have many friends who have their own companies, and they set them up in zhongshan. the government encourages entrepreneurship. >> this is a city where economic success to is everything. but two years ago, it was the politics in chongqing is making headlines. songs echoed across the city. the city's communist party chief bo xlilai look to mobilize the masses, but with his charges of abuse of power, there are far fewer signs, although some people still sing the revolutionary songs. ♪

but people are less willing to openly talk about it. >> we the ordinary people have no opinion on bo xilai. >> some have no fondness for the disgraced party boss. bo xilai is synonymous with a crackdown on the mafia that used to plague the city but also synonymous with a crackdown on dissidents, something this person knows all too well. this former forest custodian shows us the labor camp where he was imprisoned for a year in 2011. >> there you can see the labor camp for reeducation. i call it the fascist concentration camp. >> while in the camp, he was forced to work 15 hours per day. china has about 350 camps like this, holding war than 300,000 people without trial.

>> in one of those links, there is a team in charge of punishment. they punish the newcomers in the camp. you're not allowed to eat meat, smoked cigarettes, and you must endure martial discipline every day. >> all of this was meant to cure him from commenting about political life in zhongshan -- in zhongshan, criticizing his human rights record. he often posts his comments on chinese equivalent of twitter, but it was a joke that prompted his condemnation to the labor camp. >> everything was fine before. i did well in my work unit. but inside the camp, you are treated like a criminal. as if you have committed a serious crime. they put you in the same category as drug addicts and thieves. you lose your dignity as a human being. >> released soon after, he was the first of the victims to be

recognized as falsely accused by the local courts. >> because of this one year imprisonment, i made the whole world aware of the human rights situation in china. i can make the chinese people see what bo xilai has done. i have no regrets about what i have done. >> the bitterness of his victims is only one side of the story. he still enjoys a large amount of support. especially in the old city where developers are looking to transform the area. among them is this person, who is overseeing the demolition of this neighborhood. >> we are in charge of improving the living conditions of people here. once we have destroyed the slums and renovated neighborhoods, everybody will be happy. people cannot keep living ike this. >> the problem is many of the residents they say they are claiming to help claim they are

being mistreated and are only too happy to share their grievances. >> how are we the people supposed to make a living? the authorities have asked me and my mother to leave our flat. but they have given us almost nothing in compensation. >> for these people, there is one answer to their problems. bo xilai. >> i support bo xilai. >> when bo xilai and his police chief or in charge, there were no thugs or gangsters on the streets. now that they were fired, the gangsters are back. bo made big changes to the city. we still hope that he can be our president one day. >> bo xilai's popularity comes

from his social policies, in particular his construction of 40 million square meters of affordable housing, where we find this person visiting a friend. >> sure, they invested a lot for the people. it was not always the case. >> he has been unemployed since a work accident. fortunately, his family was able to get an apartment here. the monthly rent, just six euros. >> here is the room of my two sons. >> to supplement his income, he receives 80 euros of benefits as well. >> i have two children. two children. we have a hard life. there is no work, and nothing we can do about that. we cannot survive without social housing. i am building this social

housing, bo xilai got support from the population. people talk they found somebody in power who would listen to him. but if you knew what bo xilai did, what his crimes were, we the people actually suffered. >> bo also has supporters among mere malice. since his fall from grace, any such political gathering is strictly purveyed in. -- is strictly forbidden. but a group of maoists has gathered together. while there are movements are closely monitored, they still hold meetings. their first venue was a place far from downtown. but they decided is too risky and soon move on. >> is back are following us -- is that car following us? look at the plates. >> eventually they come to a

restaurant which they deem safe. ahead head of the network is a former middle manager in a nuclear power plant. originally, about 20 other people were supposed to join them here, but most of them were stopped by the police. >> one year after the fall of bo xilai, everyone has seen big changes. all the campaigns and measures a can to make people's lives better have been destroyed. >> the other two are activists. they are bemoaning the destruction of their houses. neil maoists listen carefully to their pleas in hopes of gaining support of those they considered to be abandoned by the chinese communist party. >> they tell people, we are going to destroy your houses and your lives will get better, but aren't these people able to say no to the instruction of their homes? do they have the right to go to beijing and complain? these days, it is hard to say. >> despite the constant

monitoring of them, the neo- maoist continue to have these meetings. however, many are happy to live their lives without a thought for the former party boss. this man continues to enjoy his material wealth. he is also the cofounder of an elite luxury car owners club. >> hey, guys, how is it going? >> he regular meets with the other 20 members of the club to race circuits near town. >> let me introduce our best driver. he is the first chinese to raise the flag and international competition. he took part in the for ra challenge race and as she did art and the for ra challenge race and won. >> i work in chinese medicine and i do some import/export business. >> he mostly plays music. >> yes, i help my family with

the business, but most of the time i play music. i am a dj. >> the club members can drive around the rich suburb without causing offense. and the party goes on in a nearby restaurant, with the city's specialty. the club is eager to avoid lookingclass here feels like they are above the law. >> it is illegal to raise without permits, to drive after drinking. >> in china, the gap between rich and poor is still very large. sometimes there are negative opinions about our club, but we try to avoid these kinds of situations. we pay a lot of attention to it. >> and that is china in microcosm, the fate of the rich

and poor swirling together, a melting pot that is chongqing. >> that story, the investigative newsmagazine. challenging, where bo xilai was the governor before his fall from grace. what was your reaction watching that report? >> well, bo xilai is known for being "demoted" to challenging where he has to fight to come back. he claimed the legacy of mao, but nobody really thinks he is a real maoist. >> what about the sequence where we saw the neo-maoists meeting.

what is that about in your view? >> i did not see it from where i am sitting. >> oh, dear, ok. >> i heard it, but i cannot visualize it. what i see is bo xilai was trying to make a comeback from challenging -- from chongqing to the central government, and apparently that was somewhat problematic for people in the central, especially with what was reviewed in the incident. but he is obviously very talented and an ambitious man, and the most important piece to remember about the upper crust, that all plays into this trial, the current trial. >> what makes it so important is

the so-called prince ling? >> well, when you think about it, the people in china now currently who are not members of the political bureau, not members of the leadership of the government, but who are the sons and daughters of china's most senior chinese communist party, the most senior members, the founders, and they hold these descendents, they hold a vast portion of wealth, the country's wealth. and they have far-reaching political connections in the government, including the military. in the military industry, nobody really thinks -- nobody thinks these people are sitting back,

watching. they are players in all of this. >> we see their hereditary sort of -- we will talk more of this issue, the dynastic leadership in china. you said that you went to challenging -- chongqing in 2008. was it the same place that you saw? >> i cannot say it is the same place. skyscrapers keep appearing. the growth is so fast. mostly, i would say the pattern is the same as a few years ago. >> how much of that is from bo xilai? >> china's government is slowing down now. to an extent, he can take the credit for a very fast growth,

but maybe not as fast from now. >> that will be something that we look at. very quickly because we have to go to break, when you look at that report, are they playing with fire having that trial? >> there is an element of playing with fire, which is why it is so carefully stage managed, why it has taken so long to come to trial, but i also think looking at that report, it is a perfect analogy of china on the whole, showing the gap between rich and poor. >> we will pick up on that.

>> almost half of the world 6000 light which is our risk of

disappearing. we will tell you about the warnings that not only amount to a cultural loss but an economic one as well. >> welcome back. you are watching the "debate." let's give you an example of some of the stories we're following at the top of the hour. hosni mubarak out of prison, the former egyptian president now in a military hospital in southern cairo. robert mugabe lashes out at violet western critics after being sworn in for another term. he is highly critical of the election won by zimbabwe's only president since the dependence in 1980. amid fighting in syria, militants fired records -- fired rockets into israel from

southern lebanon. winter is reported. london police say the partner of a journalist in the coverage of edward snowden's u.s. intelligence leaks disclosed they could have put lives at risk. he was held nine hours at london's heathrow airport back on sunday. we will have the stories and much more at the top of the hour, right here on france in depth. welcome. we are looking at and it is thaa decade changing of the guard, of the top leadership.

we have the author of 100 questions about china in 2013. also, someone who spent 6.5 years in china. thanks for being whacked back with us. at one point, there is one of the people who supports bo xilai who says i still hope that he can be president one day. >> we have seen comebacks in china before.

>> what is interesting, he still enjoys very solid support from people in chongqing, which extends across a certain base in china. there is support for him. he does still enjoy some protection, whether he can come back and rise to the top again remains to be seen.

>> no meek-faced confessions on day one of this trial. when asked about the funneling of $100,000 of city money to his personal account, he retracted big time. "i once admitted to this matter against my will. however, at the time, i had absolutely no knowledge of the nature of the matter. my mind was a total blank." that was courtesy of a social networking site, an account on the social networking site. he cross-examine the witnesses. are you surprised about the way the proceedings went on day one? >> yes and no. yes because -- well, let's say the no part. no because everybody sort of expected a show, a heavily scripted show.

until they have the show settled, they would not put it on to begin with. but if we know anything about bo xilai, we are sort of delighted. people on different sides of society art of delighted -- are delighted that he put on a defiant stand to defend himself. because people, his supporters certainly, want to see this. people on the right, like the pro-democracy, pro-political change, they also want to see him put on a fight. so that we will have a rupture in the top leadership of china. that may or may not lead to some change. >> hold on a second. you said for you this was heavily scripted. was it heavily scripted when he goes and cross-examine witnesses?

>> it is very hard to say. i read today all sorts of speculations, and i feel, my personal feeling is that he went off the script. >> so you are surprised because of that? >> yeah, right, and i am also delighted. i am no supporter of bo xilai, but i am delighted for various reasons. >> what are those reasons? >> because, remember, the beginning, last september when bo xilai was expelled from the party, the charges, allegations against him were a lot heavier and today the three charges laid against him. so that, to me, that signals an internal deal, a negotiation that might have involved a lot of the players that are not even

in the government, but who are very powerful, as i said before. so apparently, there is a lot of difficulties to persecute bo xilai the way they might want. so to see that kind of infighting, it signals, it is kind of exciting because as somebody who are promoting change through our website, i sort of want to see a rupture through this trial. so it is sort of very interesting, and very look forward to tomorrow. >> do you agree? >> what i see in this trial is more the symbol for chongqing, which is to set up a new era.

he wanted to fight against corruption and speculation. and i believe that bo xilai is the perfect example for that. he wants to make an example, but i don't think it is targeted to what bo xilai may have done in the past but it is more about presenting a new china. >> but do you agree there is a sort of unwilling, unexpected openness to this trial that really was not part of that script and that perhaps we could have more surprises? >> there is one thing. bo xilai has said, because people have been testifying against him, they are trying to save their skin, that is the expression he used, and this is a bit far-fetched. he has been losing his temper, and this expression is not the best to use in this kind of institution.

so from this point of view, yes, maybe it is a little. >> so you're not convinced by his performance. on twitter, we have a comment. "the bo xilai is like a football match that you know the results but not the score. only true fans care how the game was played." does it matter how the trial unfolds? >> with the trial itself, yes and no. what is different about this trial is it is being brought by -- >> a state news agency with live tweeting. >> and these are coming off there. there are a number of feeds, with tens of thousands of new subscribers, so there is information being released. it is remarkable how much information is coming out of this trial. usually the trials in china are one-day affairs. you hear the accusations, then you get the ambition -- the

admission of guilt, and then there is a sentence handed down. here there has been some detail about the charges he is facing, and it is interesting the level of detail they have gone into. and how you checked and traps that -- and how you contrast that against the accusations before the scandal unfolded. >> does that tell you that the authorities are no longer in control of the script? >> not so much they are no longer in control of the script, this is a elegant thing, an exercise for the chinese government. they essentially want to discipline one of their own, and someone who is very high up. he still knows an awful lot of things. there are still a lot of things that he could hold against other people, he still holds the dirt on many others. if you look at the figures that he has been accepting, they pale in significance. >> a little under $4.5 million in total? >> yes, three point $5 million i

think, 2.7 million euros. it is a lot of money, but on the grand scale of things, it is n high as t level bandied about by way of bribes. it is quite insignificant. though forget -- don't forget that when this story broke, investigations were being carried out by media agencies into the wealth held by other members of the politburo and investigations even in two other people liked the former chinese premier everybody thought was untouchable. this family well. >> they needed to add another digit, into the billions. >> into the billions, and a government salary in china is not that much, so it is large sums of money being bandied about. they have to be very careful to try to make an example of him, but also to ensure they are no inviting more public criticism of the system and of the chinese politicians. >> adding another layer to this,

bo xilai no ordinary state governor. he was a star inside of the communist party. we can show a photo of him back in 2011. they're getting a grantor, is dating former u.s. secretary of state henry kissinger. does that add a measure of protection for him? what does this mean? >> absolutely, he worked alongside german mouth -- chairman mao. he was a prominent military commander, he wrote illusionary military commander, one of the founders of the people's republic. he is very much one of these immortals. he enjoys a great deal of respect, and still the family commands a certain amount of respect from the military. that is a very important point

to take note of, the fact the military still has some degree of loyalty and admiration for the family. bo xilai was a protége, alongside ping as well, so he is still very influential in the upper echelons of the party. he does still enjoy a significant amount of protection from these very senior members. these are the people who have the influence. these are the people who are able to help turn decisions one way or another. >> when you look at who bo xilai is, we saw it in part one, how much playing with fire by staging this trial? >> he has enjoyed great support. the thing is his supporters now

are mobilizing themselves. so they are not going to follow the equivalent of twitter in china, and with a staged, the demonstrations and such, they are not going to retreat. it is a very dangerous game to play, and i think there are others. the other reporter just mentioned the kind of suppo bo xilai enjoyed from the military and the other members of the party leaders. i want to point out it is not only his dad is one of the eight him orders -- eight immortals, the second generation are immortals. bo xilai's son, until a couple

of years ago, was dating the immortal.of the son of another my point is not to talk about their private life. i just want to remind everyone how eangled these families are. their fortunes and their political connections. so these people are not sitting back to see bo xilai being handled the way ping may want to handle him. ping, it is hard to speculate. xinping, may not even want to prosecute him that for. he needs to take his political life, stamp out bo xilai's political life, and it remains to be seen whether he will succeed in that. interesting point, whateveran

happens to bo xilai, this could leave a mark on the young presidency of xinping, just becoming the president of china. >> indeed. >> absolutely, absolutely. and tomorrow, three things to watch, if any of these three things happen, it will be defeat for xinping. >> do you agree? >> he said he would fight against corruption and speculation. he said he would let more information, let the people know about that. that is what he is doing. >> that is what he is doing, but the big campaign that is happening right now, they're trying to use this trial to illustrate how they are cracking down on corruption. this is evidence of the chinese communist party cracking down on

corruption. this campaign was launched after he was expelled from the party, after the proceedings were set in motion. it is a bit disingenuous to try to link the two. it is clever, you can see where the communist party is coming from, but you cannot really link the two. it is also important to note that with every administration in china, especially in recent years, there has always been speeches made, statements made, we are going to crack down on corruption, we're going to crack down on corruption, this is the end of corruption in china, yet he keeps happening. while they may be talking the talk, and they have for a while, it is just not filtering down. this is another reason why it is important that the trial is handled well. this is why the communist party is trying to stage manage it, but there is still a greater

issue, which is that corruption is rife in china. there is this widening gap between rich and poor. >> a widening gap when bo was first arrested, "time" magazine put him on the cover, "red alert, the fall of bo xilai and the corruption of power in china." where the gap of power between rich and poor, continuin back in january. this is the gini coefficient, what communists call this, how they measure it. it is greater than in the west or in india. >> it is significant and startling. usually when you read articles about china, they are illustrated with a picture of the billboards. >> and the porsches. >> and it is staggering if he go to china, you see this very much alst as soo as youtepff

the plane. ther is massive development, but still an awful lot of people left behind by this economic boon, and the fact money is being siphoned off to pay for these projects, to win these contracts, going into the pockets -- going into the pockets at government of all levels. >> will this trial help to appease people, look, we know what you are feeling, or is this just going to fuel the flame? >> i think they are wanting it to appease people, they are wanting to show they are serious about cracking down on corruption. however, i don't think it will. my personal opinion is this will continue unabated, and unless something is done to reduce the gap between rich and the poor, i mean, it certainly could be a very interesting situation to come. >> it is true that china's growth has slowed, but we would love in france to have 7.5%

growth by the way. you think there is a ticking time bomb now with this cap between rich and poor -- with this gap between rich and poor? >> well, china has a lot of problems. for people who want china to change, we tend to overestimate certain elements. but a lot of things can be -- the chinese government is spending just an astronomical amount of money to maintain stability, and they are succeeding. so i don't know that the social discontent certainly has been growing to a point, and the middle class who are not part of the system, meaning the private

entrepreneurs and the middle- class class who are not working for the government, they want more. but how this will all converge, the bomb will go off, there are just all sorts of speculations, and i am just content to be an observer. i really don't have too much opinion on that. >> all right, i want to thank you. before we finish this, let's speak to one man who has been carefully following the way that the trial has been --how would you say -- playing out on social media. >> good evening, it is interesting to look at. it is of the tremendous interest in china in this case, or has been a tent -- there has been an attempt by the parties to take control of the aspect online. court officials have been live

blogging on the chinese version of twitter. >> which did not exist when the gang of four went on trial. >> exactly, times have changed. they are making an attempt to both manage the message via social media. photos like this are also coming out via the courtroom and via micro-blogging sites. >> it is micro-blogging sites, but state sanctioned accounts. >> exactly, it is an extremely vetted incidence of reporting on the trial. you only have journalists from the official state channels, and even the members of the public, all of that has been vetted. the information coming out of the courtroom is extremely vetted. then you have journalists from other networks forced to report from a hotel room on the screen, basically, that is showing the live blogs. it shows the extent to which the

information is being managed. another interesting aspect, those who are trying to speak more freely about it are seeing their accounts blocked or censored. photos that when online showing protests outside of the courtroom are also being taken down. these are protesters, fans, i suppose, of bo xilai who were swiftly taken away, photographs taken of the protests. they were taken down very quickly, francois. we also had an observer who has taken screen grabs of comments in chinese. these are basically ghost accounts, francois, no photographs, speaking very positively about the court rss, making comments such as we are all equal before the law, the court officials are doing an excellent job, the judges are doing an excellent job. so clearly, those may be managed

behind the scenes by the authorities. >> you suspected maoists everywhere. >> i am only saying what other people are saying. now, another interesting aspect, take a look at the two guards who were chosen to stand on either side of bo xilai. you would get the impression that bo xilai is not the tallest individual, but look at the photo below. use actually one meter, 86, which is quite tall. >> taller than us. >> exactly. a lot of people talking about that, saying this is so micromanaged that even the size of the guards, very tall people for any country, perhaps, especially for china, they have been picked. which his has -- which has led a dissident chinese artist -- >> here we go. >> there he is, standing to the

left of bo xilai. that is not, as we see in the original photo, the same man who is considerably less bearded, shall we say. that is an element about that story on social media. >> and you will be covering other stories in our next show. >> we will, indeed. i will be looking at this reality tv star in the u.s. who posted a photo of his half- million dollar watch, and probably was assaulted by somebody who tried to steal it. a reminder to us all to be careful. >> a cautionary tale. >> also, tweeting in syria, "for just once, can we all say no together to massacre?" that is on the front page of the english "daily mirror." she also posted a link to the front page of the paper in damascus, a massacre by toxic tassels to will be watching

these. >> james, thank you. i also want to thank our guests for joining us. i want to thank you for being with us. there is much more to come right here on france 24.

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